Sears Highest, Home Depot Lowest, In Memorial Day Appliance Pricing

Memorial Day is a key promotional period for the major appliance business, and last month national chains and independent Mega Group USA dealers didn’t disappoint — for the most part.

According to TWICE market research partner BrandView, which examined retail pricing on a dozen French door refrigerator models from May 18 through June 1, The Home Depot was the most aggressive of the six national chains monitored, with average retails down 5 percent compared to two weeks prior.

But conversely, Sears, the No. 3 appliance chain according to the TWICE Top 50 Appliance Retailers report, actually raised prices more than Home Depot dropped them, up an average of 6 percent. Indeed, Sears was priced highest on eight of the dozen fridges, while Home Depot was lowest on nine.

The greatest divergence was on LG’s LFXS29766S, a 28.8-cubic-foot stainless fridge with through-the-door ice and water. Home Depot’s price fell 25 percent on June 1, to $2,296.90, the lowest of all retailers carrying it, while Sears’ price rose 11 percent, to $2,554.99, placing it well above the rest.

Pricing at archrival Lowe’s, as well as at Best Buy, Fry’s and Abt Electronics, was essentially flat for the period.

BrandView tracks pricing online and in circulars, where retailers are obliged to stick to MAP, as well as in stores, where retailers can discount promotional MAP prices by upwards of 10 percent.

Meanwhile, Mega Group USA, the 1,700-member buying organization for independent furniture, bedding, appliance and CE dealers, said its new WebFronts Level 4 digital marketing program from Retailer Web Services (RWS) drove more than 1.1 million image views; 96,287 individual participating product page views; nearly 1,000 rebate form downloads; and more than 2,000 phone calls directly from members’ mobile sites over just a handful of days.

As a result, reported Mega Member Sam Curtis of Valley Furniture & Appliance in Safford, Ariz., “During our Memorial Day promotions, more customers asked about a specific promotion or rebate that ran on our website than ever before.”